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Research at MUCCRI Through partnership with NARO and the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA-Uganda) and with funding from USAID, MUCCRI is offering both financial and technical support to a series of graduate students (both MSc and PhD) research efforts as well as research experiences for undergraduates.

Undergraduate Students

Masters Students

The different research topics for MSc covered by the graduate students include the following:
MScs to generate agro-meteorological climate-risk analyses to inform decision-making at national, community, and farm level MScs to assess what policies affect farmers’ vulnerability and adaptive capacity at the local level through stakeholder engagement, so as to create awareness, empower the farming community and trigger behavioral change of local policy actors.Visit the Master Students' Research page

PhD Students

The different research topics for PhD covered by the graduate students include the following:
PhD on climate-smart Robusta coffee: understanding the biophysical and economic challenges and opportunities at plot level. PhD on climate change adaptation, climate smart technologies: Overcoming drought stress in key food crops, combining drought-tolerant germplasm with evaluating technologies for conserving, collecting, and supplying water. PhD on climate change adaptation at household and community level - diversification or specialization and the implications of control over assets.Visit the PhD Students' Research page

Audience

Topic

New Findings

Identify the NEW finding in your work – in words that anyone could understand. Describe or explain to your audience why this is important new information. Develop one paragraph.Climate change affects individuals in communities so has to be tackled with participatory community activities. A key element here is the use of multi-media approaches by combining mass media, interpersonal channels and new media (especially radio, farmers’ groups and mobiles/SMS messages) as channels for sharing information and learning from good practices of others.

New Information

Describe how your intended audience might use that new information – in words they would understand. How would someone “do it”.Develop one paragraph Or whatever is needed to understand how to implement or utilize this new knowledge. Please be as specific as you can be for your audience and still understandable – newspaper level language.Farmers should get better information seeking habits from media like radio and have farmers’ groups that are active and meet regularly to share information on adaptation and mitigation measures in their locality (local solutions) - with District, Sub-county Extension workers or NGOs as facilitators. Can use these groups to get resources like loans to enhance their capacity for adaptation & mitigation.

Could you make an sms text of the critical info? (That is often a good way to share new information.) If so, please add it . Communities need to join farmers groups to share information and work out joint local solutions to cope with climate change so as to improve their productivity and welfare

Audience

Topic

New Findings

Identify the NEW finding in your work – in words that anyone could understand. Describe or explain to your audience why this is important new information. Develop one paragraph. Although climate change has become a major global concern and much information is available on this, the media in Uganda are not giving adequate coverage to climate change issues to enable farmers get information on mitigation and adaptation measures to improve their productivity and welfare.

New Information

Describe how your intended audience might use that new information – in words they would understand. How would someone “do it”.Develop one paragraph Or whatever is needed to understand how to implement or utilize this new knowledge. Please be as specific as you can be for your audience and still understandable – newspaper level language. Journalists need to mainstream environment and climate change in their reports as these two issues greatly influence people’s welfare, given the fact that Uganda is an agro-based economy. Media is the major source of science information and media need to make deliberate efforts to ensure more coverage of climate issues so as to make information on this more readily available especially to rural farmers. This should contribute to increase in production and improved welfare at household levels and ultimately, to national development. Trainers need to ensure that journalists are well equipped to report on climate change.

Could you make an sms text of the critical info? (That is often a good way to share new information.) If so, please add it . . . Through increased coverage of climate change issues and how these affect sustainable development, media can make climate information more accessible and thus contribute to improved welfare and national development

Audience

Policy makers, planners and NGOs

Topic

A:Gender and climate change

New Findings

The study noted that women are most vulnerable to various effects of climate change relating to food shortage, water scarcity and shortage of energy or fuel wood due to their limited access to and control of resources, reproductive roles, and unequal power relations in households

How to use this information

Through capacity building and training of various stakeholders (policy makers, planners and NGOs) on how to adequately integrate gender into climate change related interventions, there could be encouragement and promotion of equal and mutual household decision-making on resource use and management

Climate change is not gender specific despite the fact that women are most vulnerable to its effects. So, there is a need to increase awareness among men and women in the various communities about the causes of climate change and relevant mitigation, coping and adaptation strategies to address its impacts

Audience

Policy makers

Topic

A:Water cycle response to climate change

New Findings

Models suggest that even though warmer long term trends in weather will lead to a basin-wide increase in precipitation and subsequent increase in stream flows for the Mpologoma basin, excessive loss of water from land (through plants and directly from soil) might lead to a decline in soil moisture. This may cause serious concerns for food security and water resource maintenance for present and future generation

How to use this information

This information is a wakeup call for policy makers to develop adaptation strategies in and around the Mpologoma basin so as to combat issues of water conflicts and food insecurity that may arise

Climate models assume excessive loss of water from land to the atmosphere (air) over time leading to a decline in soil moisture. So, adaptive strategies to help to avoid water conflicts and food insecurity need to be developed as early as possible

Audience

Researchers, extension workers

Topic

A:Participatory farmers’ evaluation of maize varieties

New Findings

Farmers’ choice of a given maize variety was mainly influenced by the physical characteristics of the seeds especially if the variety had not been planted before. Large seed grain size was preferred to the small seed grain size. Sometimes farmers are also reluctant to take up some good varieties (for example seeds of high yield potential, early maturity and tolerance to drought, pests and diseases) either due to inadequate knowledge or lack of extension advice

How to use this information

Commercial seed producers/researchers should always ensure that new seed varieties released on market are of normal grain size to avoid potentially best performing crop varieties being rejected by farmers because of their physical appearance. Researchers and extension workers should incorporate farmers’ indigenous knowledge and preferences into their scientific knowledge during the selection of maize varieties at every stage of technology development and transfer. This would make farmers more knowledgeable about what to plant and thus increase their likelihood of taking up the new/improved varieties

Farmers seem to prefer large size seeds for planting and incorporating farmers’ indigenous knowledge and preferences during the breeding process/improvement of the varieties by scientists would greatly increase their likelihood of cooperating with the researchers and extension workers and taking up the new crops

Audience

Policy makers

Topic

A:Impacts and Adaptations B: Climate Variability and Change in Inland Riparian and Aquatic Ecosystems and Fisheries

New Findings

Climate change increases water temperature, causes unpredictable precipitation and changes other important factors like: how deep light can go in the water, the nutrients that are available, and how much oxygen is available for the fish. These changes affect the numbers of fish available to catch and the livelihoods of the people who depend on fish and other aquatic ecosystem services. When these impacts are felt, fishers adapt to the changes either by intensifying fishing operations or diversifying their livelihoods

How to use this information

This information can support efforts to increase awareness of climate impacts on fisheries and support sharing information about how to adapt to impacts of climate change on lakes, rivers, wetlands and livelihoods

Climate change is real and affecting people’s livelihoods through negatively impacting the normal functioning of aquatic resources. So, action is needed to assist fishers in how to diversify their livelihoods or reduce climate impacts on water bodies

Audience

Fishers, Policy makers

Topic

A:Equipping small scale fishers & riparian communities with adaptation strategies and innovations to cope with impacts of climate variability and change

New Findings

Besides switching to catching the most abundant African catfish and Lungfish, innovative fishers diversified to high value crops such as pineapples, oranges, tomatoes, cabbages plus livestock and poultry farming which increased their income. However, adaptation was sometimes accompanied by unsustainable practices like cultivation at the edge of the lakes, extensive harvesting of papyrus and use of pesticides which could negatively affect the fish habitat and fisheries business

How to use this information

With this information, fishers can be advised on better ways of adapting to climate change through promoting environmental practices that will benefit them and the future generation

Climate change is affecting aquatic resources, so sustainable environmental management is the way to go not only for our own benefit but also for the future generation to enjoy the resources

Audience

policy makers

Topic

A: policy information B: supportive of a specific policy option

New Findings

Acknowledgement of ranges from Climate models (computer simulations/ tested mathematical equations) is fundamental to the decision-making process. If climate change projections are based on a single simulation, a wide range of possible outcomes would be ignored. This would provide misleading information to the public and decision makers and may also lead to wrong decisions

How to use this information

If policy makers gather all projections that reflect ranges from climate models, hydrological models and other techniques, it would be easier and more accurate for them to forecast nearly every potential change rather than basing/assuming a one-way cause-effect relationship

The wide range of outcomes from models (computer simulations) should not be underestimated but rather combined with non-climatic factors such as population growth, agricultural water demand so as to plan appropriate adaptation measures